Dessert Soup

Dessert soup is not a common concept in North American cookery but it’s ubiquity in Cantonese dessert is on par with cakes in the Western sweet kitchen. Food plays a strong role in the traditional Chinese holistic approach to health. Of course in addition to savoury soup, there is a dessert soup suitable for every ailment, seasonal change, and enrichment for the body. I never quite understand this holistic perspective. To me, dessert soup is simply an appropriate end to a meal or a great option for late night snack.

The natural sweetness of fruit means that they are better enjoyed fresh as nature intended. Therefore you would not find much dessert soup made with fruit. So what goes in dessert soup? The usual suspects run the gamut of whole grains, beans, root vegetable, and nuts. I can understand why they never quite gain the popularity of savoury Chinese dishes in the Western world. The concept of using these “side dish” ingredients in a dessert application is just too far off to appeal to the masses. However, since I was brought up on dessert soup, I love them just as much any cookies, brownies, cakes, and puddings.

In Hong Kong, there are specialty restaurants serving nothing but dessert soup in every neighbourhood. To match people’s craving for dessert, many of these places do not open until lunch time and stay open late into the night. A late night snack of dessert soup whether as takeout or as an extension to a great night of dining out is common among the young and old. The menu can be dizzying to navigate for the uninitiated. In addition to all the different types of dessert soup, there are options to have them hot or cold, with or without extra glutinous rice dumplings (similar to bite-size mochi), extra splash of coconut milk, etc. And that is just for the more traditional offerings, which is what I’m partial to anyway.

I bought some excellent taro the other day for a braised chicken dish and set some aside to make dessert soup. Coconut milk and evaporated milk are natural partners with the starchy root vegetable. A popular dessert soup is one made with cooked taro, mini tapioca pearls, coconut milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened with rock sugar. Make no mistake, the consistency is definitely closer to soupy than pudding. The pale purple colour is quite attractive. A variation of this soup is to replace the tapioca with black glutinous rice. The black glutinous rice turns the dessert soup into a beautiful deep purplish red colour. With just one change in ingredient, it is transformed into a whole different dessert. Not only does it taste great, I also love the use of whole grain. I like to think this as a Cantonese take on rice pudding.

Coconut Black Glutinous Rice Dessert Soup with Taro 椰汁芋頭紫米露

serves 6prep time: 8 hrcook time: 30 min

Ingredients

1 cupblack glutinous rice

2 cuptaro, peeled and diced to 1” cubes (do this with gloves because the juice from raw taro is rumoured to cause itchy skin)

175grock sugar

1/2 cupcoconut milk

1/4 cupevaporated milk

Method

Rinse and soak black glutinous rice overnight with enough water to cover the rice by an inch.

Drain the rice. Add rice and 4 cups of water to a medium pot and bring to boil. Turn heat down to simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until tender.

In the mean time, add taro and plenty of water in a small pot and bring to boil. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until fork tender. Drain.

Once the rice is cooked, take it off the heat and add sugar. Let it sit for 5 minutes and stir until sugar dissolves.

Add the drained taro to the rice along with coconut milk and evaporated milk. Bring it back to boil and serve hot or cold.

Comments

Dessert Soup

Dessert soup is not a common concept in North American cookery but it’s ubiquity in Cantonese dessert is on par with cakes in the Western sweet kitchen. Food plays a strong role in the traditional Chinese holistic approach to health. Of course in addition to savoury soup, there is a dessert soup suitable for every ailment, seasonal change, and enrichment for the body. I never quite understand this holistic perspective. To me, dessert soup is simply an appropriate end to a meal or a great option for late night snack.

The natural sweetness of fruit means that they are better enjoyed fresh as nature intended. Therefore you would not find much dessert soup made with fruit. So what goes in dessert soup? The usual suspects run the gamut of whole grains, beans, root vegetable, and nuts. I can understand why they never quite gain the popularity of savoury Chinese dishes in the Western world. The concept of using these “side dish” ingredients in a dessert application is just too far off to appeal to the masses. However, since I was brought up on dessert soup, I love them just as much any cookies, brownies, cakes, and puddings.